Last Sunday I was in Annapolis doing a book signing for Five-Year Marriage®. The place was Old Fox Books and Coffee House on Maryland Avenue. It’s sort of off the main drag, but located in between St. John’s College and the Naval Academy. and it’s the cutest book shop. It’s the kind of place I’d want to have someday. Going to Old Fox is like stopping at some peaceful place “from the olden days” – the kind of place that lives in your head.
Using my real estate background, I can figure that, once upon a time and before it was a store, it was a “straight through” row house. So, when you walk through the front door, you can imagine that – back then – you would have walked from the street into the living room. Owners Ginny and Janice kept the fireplace and include places to sit are around tables of books and in front of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. You can walk straight through to the second room with a dining table (where I was in the picture) and past it to the former kitchen, which is now a cafe. And, in the nice weather, you can go outside and enjoy a book on the patio.
Which is what Walt must have done. He was the first person I met at the signing, and the first one to buy a book there.
Walt showed up early, around ten minutes before my noon-2pm signing event. Walt came over to the table and immediately wanted to engage in conversation – something I enjoy! He’d read about The Five-Year Marriage® in an advertisement. During our conversation, Walt “confessed” his surprise at seeing me. He was expecting “some twenty-five year old kid who knew almost nothing about marriage.” Clearly…I’m not twenty-five and, after thirty years and six marriages, I know a thing or two about marriage! We laughed.
After some chatting about what was in the book and why he was interested, Walt bought a book and I signed it. I thought that was the end of our encounter.
But here’s the best part: about an hour later, Walt was back at my table. Apparently, after purchasing a copy of The Five-Year Marriage®: Shifting the Marriage Paradigm, he decided to take to the garden patio and read it. When he came over to my table, he grabbed another book and said, “I’ve read enough…I’m buying another book.”
That’s music to any author’s ears! Not because we want to sell another book. OK, yes we do. However, what we authors most want is to know that the person reading our book likes our writing. Also, in the case of the Five-Year Marriage®, it also means a reader really “gets” the point of the Five-Year Marriage®. And, that day, it was Walt. THANKS Walt!
Walt isn’t alone. Happily, he’s the sixth person to do buy a book for themselves, and then buy another copy for someone else. One woman came back and bought four copies – one for each other her kids. Anther woman bought five copies – three for her kids and two for her college-age grandsons.
I love it – and I think it’s cool!
If you’re interested, you can find your own copy here:
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